Running back Ahmad Bradshaw did not practice Wednesday because of a sprained knee and his availability is uncertain for the Giants' game Sunday in Atlanta.
"I'm not going to rule him out of anything," coach Tom Coughlin said at his news conference this morning. "I'm not going to talk about the percentages or anything like that. You can speculate on that, knowing full well what the injury is."
Coughlin later added, "It's going to be a medical decision. It will be a decision that is in the best interest of the athlete. It will come from the medical people and we'll live by it."
Bradshaw sprained his knee last week in the Giants' 52-27 victory over the New Orleans Saints. The Giants' second-leading rusher, Andre Brown, is on injured reserve with a fractured fibula. If Bradshaw can't play, rookie David Wilson will start. Wilson rushed for 100 yards and set a franchise record with 327 all-purpose yards (227 on kickoffs) against the Saints. He scored three touchdowns. Wilson was today named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.
The other running backs on the roster are Kregg Lumpkin and Ryan Torain, who were signed two weeks ago.
Bradshaw has long battled foot and ankle injuries that have curtailed his practice time. Despite that, he has missed only one game this season – September 30 at Carolina – and leads the team with 869 rushing yards on 196 carries, both the second-highest totals of his career. He has scored five touchdowns.
The Giants have long admired Bradshaw's toughness and his refusal to be slowed by pain.
"The other day, for example, when he did injure the knee he got it taped and went back in," Coughlin said. "He had three straight what amounted to short-yardage runs in a row to make a key first down on the fringe of the green (zone). No one even knew what was going on there. He told me he had no limitations.
"He's a tough son of a gun. I say that with admiration."
Cornerback Prince Amukamara also missed practice with a hamstring injury that Coughlin called, "tricky.
"They all want to play. So he's, 'Well, I feel better today.' But what can you do? We can't run him today."
Wide receiver Hakeem Nicks has played in the last six games, but the knee injury that forced him to miss three games early in the season still must be managed.
"We're probably going to have to slow down a little bit, not do much with him and maybe bring him in a little bit as we move along," Coughlin said.
